1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices to assist a swimmer and more particularly to swimming devices which assist swimmers to train and condition.
A great deal of strength and conditioning is required to swim at a pace that approaches a competitive race (hereinafter "race pace"). Using traditional training methods, it is virtually impossible to maintain this race pace consistently while training and conditioning the swimmer.
A competitive swimmer must coordinate his legs, arms, body rotation and breathing at an extraordinary level to get the maximum forward progress out of each stroke. This extraordinary coordination can only be learned and practiced at speeds approaching race pace because the plane the swimmer makes with the water is different at different speeds. The faster a swimmer's body goes the higher it planes in the water. At race pace, the swimmer's body approaches a parallel plane with the surface of the water. The entry of his arms in the water on the reach portion of a swim stroke is at a very different angle under casual swimming conditions than at race pace. Thus, the necessary sequence of muscular contractions in the muscles of the shoulders and the upper body (hereinafter neuromuscular coordination) that must be developed while going at a race pace is quite different from the neuromuscular coordination that must be developed during ordinary training.
Typically, at race pace, the swimmer goes all out, his muscles strain to their very limits. However, virtually all of the swimmer's training has been at a more casual training pace. Thus, the neuromuscular coordination developed during training is not the same as that which is needed at race pace. The solution would seem to be obvious, train at race pace. However, as pointed out above, this is impossible because the human body can not withstand constant race pace. The swimmer will approach burn out, possibly become injured and become too fatigued to perform at his best during a race.
The problem, then, would seem to be insurmountable; how can one train such that the necessary muscles, body movement and breathing are extraordinarily coordinated at race pace without over taxing the body. Additionally, the problem is how can the swimmer train for maximum coordination while conditioning the body such that the body is at maximum strength and even peaking during a race.
The instant invention, while seemingly quite simple in design, is in fact an extraordinary solution to a very difficult and complex problem.
Another aspect of competition swimming is remaining conditioned while being injured. A substantial portion of the injuries which occur to swimmers, occur to their shoulders. In the past, a swimmer having only slightly injured shoulder could not hope to train at conditions even approaching race pace. The shoulder would have to heal before the swimmer could hope to regain both his conditioning and coordination.
In effect, the swimmer will give up a substantial portion of race season because the injury will be devastating to his coordination. While the swimmer can maintain some conditioning by running or lifting weights or using a kick board or doing other exercises that do not involve his shoulders, he can not maintain the coordination of his shoulders, body rotation, kick and breathing unless he can actually swim and use his shoulder.
Many shoulder injuries are slight enough that some light swimming is possible. However, using past training methods, the risk of re-injury was quite great because of the competitive swimmer's strong desire to get back to competition. Using the device of the instant invention, a swimmer is able to train at speeds approaching race pace without placing undue stress on the injured shoulder, such that it becomes re-injured.
Additionally, precautions must be taken when a swimmer has injured his shoulder because he is even more prone to re-injuring his shoulder and causing even more severe damage. Typically, using past training methods this is precisely what happened to a swimmer. Using the device of the instant invention, a swimmer can return to training at speeds approaching race pace without placing undue stress on the injured shoulder and risking repeated and greater injury.
Implicit in the instant invention is the recognition that a swimmer puts far less stress on his shoulders during the arm reach when he is planning at a higher level on the water, i.e. when the swimmer is at race pace. The swimmer's arm reaches toward the water at an angle which is far more comfortable, more efficient and less stressful to the shoulders than the arm entry position of the more common training pace. Thus, the instant invention allows the swimmer to continue training at speeds approaching race pace with a minimum risk of re-injuring the injured shoulder.
Swimming is one of the most popular and healthiest forms of recreation available. Many persons learn to swim without proper instruction. As is well known, old habits are difficult to break. Thus, there is an important need to find a device that assists the novice and even the advanced swimmer in developing and continuing the proper swimming technique.
Typical pull paddles such as Montrella, Re. 28,855 include a rigid sheet material in a substantially rectangular configuration, having an aft edge with a relief for the wrist of a user and additionally having a wrist band and a center finger band.
Typically such paddles cause an artificial reduction in the amount of force that the arm can be applied to the hand and forearm. This is so because the forearm is typically not strong enough to maintain the initial angle of the stroke, thereby decreasing the amount of force that is exerted by the forearm.
In order to further and more fully appreciate the skill in the art, it is necessary to describe the following terms:
Definition of the Center of Force: the point on the surface of a pull paddle which when a force is applied to move the pull paddle through a body of water will cause no rotational force to be applied to the pull paddle.
Definition of the Lever Arm: the distance between the center of force and the apex of the wrist detent.
The muscles of the forearm can easily become overloaded. If this overload occurs, the swimmer intuitively and frequently unconsciously decreases the amount of force being transmitted to the arm by the major propulsive muscles of the torso, shoulder and upper arm. This decrease in force allows the overloaded forearm muscles to continue to maintain the correct angle of attack of the hand. The result is that the swimmer does not stress the major propulsive muscles of the upper body to maximum potential. If these muscles are not exercised to their maximum potential, the swimmer will not develop the strength and conditioning that is desired.
The forearm overload condition can occur when additional stress to the forearm is encountered from existing pull paddles which have a center of force too far from the wrist joint. The farther the center of force is from the wrist joint, the longer the lever arm is which acts against the forearm muscles. The longer the lever arm, the more stress that is transmitted to the forearm muscles.
Applicant has discovered that by moving the center of force closer to the wrist joint, the lever arm is decreased which allows the forearm not to artificially limit the force exerted by the entire arm on the pull paddle. Additionally, by moving the center of force closer to the wrist joint, the stress to the forearms is decreased discouraging overload until greater forearm stress levels are reached. Additionally, it has now been discovered that by having a tapered pull paddle (wherein the front is narrower than the rear instead of a rectangular pull paddle the center of force can be moved closer to the wrist, thereby decreasing the lever arm.